The Secret Sharers
by Qiu Xiaolong

Ex-Chief Inspector Chen of the Shanghai Police Bureau investigates the case of a vanished man in this poetic, atmospheric literary mystery set in contemporary Shanghai.

Over two million copies of the Inspector Chen series sold worldwide.

With the Chinese government’s crackdown on private investigators, times are hard for those in the profession: Which includes Inspector Chen’s good friend Old Hunter.

So when one of Shanghai’s most successful businesswomen asks Old Hunter to help a man nicknamed X who’s been vanished by the government, reason unknown, he accepts the politically dangerous—but extremely well-paid—case, and immediately turns to Chen for help in turn.

What crime has the vanished man supposedly committed? Chen plunges in, his investigations soon leading back to the massacre at Tiananmen Square, when X spoke up against the Party—and Chen did not. And as the inspector uncovers the life of a man whose background and tastes strangely echo his own, he becomes desperate not just to save the mysterious X, but to redeem himself for his own mistakes.

Genre: Police Procedural

Reviews

“A provocative and timely take on Covid in China, with a whodunit kicker”

Kirkus Reviews on Love and Murder in the Time of Covid

“Timely and gripping. It is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly transformed every aspect of contemporary life”

Mia Chen Ma of The Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing on Love and Murder in the Time of Covid

“Stellar mystery . . . Newcomers and fans alike will look forward to how Qiu raises the stakes for Chen in the next book”

Publishers Weekly Starred Review of Inspector Chen and the Private Kitchen Murder

“The plot is full of unpredictable detours and sidebars that intensify the pleasure of following Chen’s vibrant curiosity. An exhilarating blend of recent history, mystery, and the writer’s craft”

Kirkus Reviews on Inspector Chen and the Private Kitchen Murder

“While series fans will be delighted at the background Qiu provides, this is an accessible starting point for newcomers . . . in his superior 11th novel featuring Shanghai policeman and poet Chen Cao”

Publishers Weekly Starred Review of Becoming Inspector Chen

“Qiu’s stylish hybrid is half fictional literary memoir and half crisp whodunit”

Kirkus Reviews on Becoming Inspector Chen

“Gripping . . . A scathing indictment of contemporary China”

Booklist on Becoming Inspector Chen

“Fans of mysteries about honest cops working for compromised regimes won’t want to miss this one”

Library Journal Starred Review of Hold your Breath, China

“Fascinating . . . Xiaolong writes with both urgency and grace about modern China in another well-crafted mystery”

Booklist Starred Review of Hold Your Breath, China

Qiu Xiaolong

Anthony Award winning author Qiu Xiaolong was born in Shanghai and moved to Washington University in St Louis, US, to complete a PhD degree in comparative literature. After the Tiananmen tragedy in 1989 he stayed on in St Louis where he still lives with his wife. Qiu’s sold over two million copies of his Inspector Chen mysteries worldwide and been published in twenty languages. On top of his fiction, he is a prize-winning writer of poetry.All the titles in the Inspector Chen series, including Hold Your Breath, China, have been dramatized in BBC Radio 4 productions.

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Editions

The Secret Sharers by Qiu Xiaolong is available in the following formats

Hardback97814483171726th January 2026144 X 222mm208$29.99
Hardback97814483171726th January 2026144 X 222mm208£21.99
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